Jehoiada

JEHOIADA je-hoi'-a-da (yehoyadha`, "Yahweh knows"; Iodae):

(1) Father of Benaiah, the captain of David's body-guard (2 Samuel 8:18; 20:23; 23:20,22; 1 Kings 1:8, etc.). Jehoiada was "the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel" (2 Samuel 23:20), but commentators read with Septuagint and Ewald, "Benaiah (the son of Jehoiada) a man of valor." Kabzeel was a town belonging to Judah on the border of Edom in the South (Joshua 15:21). In 1 Chronicles 27:5, we read "Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, chief," the Revised Version (British and American), but the Revised Version margin has "chief minister" wrongly. Yet Jehoiada is nowhere else called a priest or even a Levite, though in 1 Chronicles 12:27 (Hebrew, verse 28) a Jehoiada is mentioned as a military "leader of the house of Aaron," who came to David to Hebron with other members of the house of Levi. In 1 Chronicles 27:34 there is named among David's counselors, "Jehoiada the son. of Benaiah," where some commentators would read with two manuscripts, "Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada" though Curtis, Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Chronicles, 295, keeps the Massoretic Text.

(2) Priest in the reigns of Ahaziah, Queen Athaliah, and Jehoash (Joash) of Judah (2 Kings 11:4-12:16 (Hebrew 17) = 2 Chronicles 23:1-24:14; 2 Chronicles 22:11; 24:14-16,17-20,22,25). In 2 Kings 12:10 (Hebrew, verse 11) he is called "high priest," and is the first to be given that title, but as the priest lived in the temple, there is no meaning in saying that he "came up," so commentators omit the words, "and the chief priest." According to 2 Chronicles 22:11, he had married Jehoshabeath (= Jehosheba), the daughter of the king, i.e. Jehoram.

1. Jehoiada and the Revolt against Athaliah:

(a) The account in 2 Chronicles 23:1-21 differs in many respects from that in 2 Kings 11:4-20, but even the latter has its problems, and Stade (ZATW, 1885, 280) pointed out two sources in it. This view is accepted by many. A reader is struck at once by the double reference to the death of Athaliah (2 Kings 11:16,20), and the construction of the Hebrew for "making a covenant" is different in 2 Kings 11:4 from that in 11:17. Stade holds that there is one narrative in 11:4-12,18b-20 and another in 11:13-18a.

In the first, Jehoiada makes an agreement with the captains of the foreign body-guard, and arranges that both the incoming and outgoing temple-guard shall be kept in the temple at the time when the guard should be changed on the Sabbath, and also that th e young prince, Jehoash, who had been kept in hiding, shall be proclaimed. The captains do this, and the prince is crowned and proclaimed (2 Kings 11:4-12). Then officers are set up in the temple, and Jehoash is taken to the royal palace and enthroned. The revolt proves popular with the people of Jerusalem and those of the district, and Athaliah is slain in the palace.

But there are difficulties in this narrative, though the above gives the trend of events; 2 Kings 11:5 refers to a third of the guard who "came in on the sabbath," and 11:7 to two companies who "go forth on the sabbath"; the Hebrew is, "they that enter the sabbath" and "they that go out of the sabbath." 2 Kings 11:9 makes clear the connection between 11:5 and 7. But 11:6 introduces a difficulty:

it seems to denote a division of those who "enter" into three divisions, i.e. the two in 11:6 and one in 11:5. If 11:6 be omitted, as is proposed by many, this difficulty vanishes. But there still remains the question of the change of guards. Commentators say that "they who enter the sabbath" are those who leave the temple and enter their quarters at the beginning of the Sabbath, presumably, while "those who go out" are those who leave their quarters to mount guard. This is not impossible as an explanation of the Hebrew. It is further believed that the guard at the temple on the Sabbath was double that on other days. The other explanation, held by older commentators is that on the Sabbath the guard was only half its usual size; this gives another meaning to the Hebrew phrases. On the other hand, it may be held that the revolt took place at the close of the Sabbath, and that the double-sized guard was kept by Jehoiada even after the usual-sized one had come to take their place. It should be added that Wellhausen proposed to read (tse`adhoth), "armlets" (compare Isaiah 3:19), for (`edhuth), "testimony," in 2 Kings 11:12; and in 11:19 the words "and all the people of the land" are held to be an addition.

(b) The 2nd narrative (2 Kings 11:13-18 a) begins suddenly. Presumably, its earlier part was identical with the earlier part of the 1st narrative, unless 2 Kings 11:6 was a part originally of this 2nd account. Athaliah hears the noise of the people (11:13, where "the guard" is a gloss and so to be omitted), and comes to the temple, where she witnesses the revolt and cries, "Treason! treason!" Jehoiada orders her to be put forth (omit "between the ranks" in 11:15), so that she should not be slain in the temple, and she is murdered at one of the palace entrances (11:16, where the Revised Version (British and American), following Septuagint of 2 Chronicles 23:15, translates the first sentence wrongly:

it should be "So they laid hands on her"). Jehoiada then makes the king and the people enter into a solemn covenant to be Yahweh's people, and the result is the destruction of the temple of Baal, and the death of Mattan, its priest (1 Kings 11:17,18 a). This 2nd narrative gives a religious significance to the revolt, but it is incomplete. The other narrative presents a very natural course of events, for it was absolutely necessary for Jehoiada to secure the allegiance of the royal foreign body-guard.

(c) The account in 2 Chronicles 23:1-21, though following that of 2Ki in the main, differs from it considerably. The guard is here composed of Levites; it does not mention the foreign body-guard, and relates how the revolt was planned with the Levites of the cities of Judah--a method which would have become known to Athaliah and for which she would have made preparations, no doubt. Ch makes it a wholly religious movement, while 2 Kings gives two points of view. The value of the Chronicler's account depends largely on one's estimate of the Books of Chronicles and one's views as to the development of the Jewish priestly system. A. Van Hoonacker, Lesacerdoce levitique dans la loi et dans l'histoire des Hebreux, 93-100, defends the account in 2 Chronicles.

2. Jehoiada and the Restoration of the Temple:

The part which Jehoiada played in the restoration of the temple buildings is described in 2 Kings 11:21-12:16 (Hebrew 12:1-17) parallel 2 Chronicles 24:1-14. Here again the narratives of 2Ki and 2Ch differ to a large extent.

(a) According to 2 Kings,

(i) the priests are commanded by Jehoash to devote the dues or free-will offerings of the people to repairing the breaches in the temple. They fail to do so, and

(ii) Jehoiada is summoned by the king and rebuked. Then

(iii) a new regulation is put into force:

the offerings, except the guilt offerings and sin offerings, are no longer to be given to the priests, but to be put into a chest provided in the temple for the purpose.

(iv) The money got in this way is devoted to repairing the temple, but

(v) none of it is used to provide temple vessels.

(b) Chronicles, on the other hand,

(i) relates that the priests and Levites are commanded to go through Judah to collect the necessary money. They "hastened it not." Then

(ii) Jehoiada is summoned to account for this disobedience, and

(iii) a chest is put outside the temple to receive the tax commanded by Moses.

(iv) This the people pay willingly, and the temple is repaired. There is such a surplus that

(v) there is money also to provide vessels for the temple.

It is at least questionable whether the additions in 2 Chronicles are trustworthy; the contradictions against 2 Kings are clear, and the latter gives the more likely narrative, although Van Hoonackcr (op. cit., 10114) defends the former.

According to 2 Chronicles 24:15, Jehoiada lived to be 130 years old, and was buried among the kings--a unique distinction.

(3) The King James Version in Nehemiah 3:6 = JOIADA (which see).

(4) There is a Jehoiada, the priest mentioned in Jeremiah 29:26, in whose stead Zephaniah was declared priest by Shemaiah in a letter.

Giesebrecht takes him to be the same as the priest of Athaliah's time (see (2) above), but Duhm says that nothing is known of him. In any case, Zephaniah could not have been the direct successor of the well-known Jehoiada, and so the reference can scarcely be to him if it is to have any meaning.

David Francis Roberts

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'JEHOIADA'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.